Although the Board of Selectmen plowed through several action items on Monday's agenda, an open forum discussion, led by resident Bonnie Kelley, proved to be the hot button topic of the night.

CASEY NILSSON

Although the Board of Selectmen plowed through several action items on Monday's agenda, an open forum discussion, led by resident Bonnie Kelley, proved to be the hot button topic of the night.

Planning Board appointment

Until Monday night, two out of three selectmen were active members of the Planning Board. Selectmen Chair Mike Costello, also the chair of the Planning Board, plans to retain his post.

Selectman Joe Tito, however, handed in his resignation from the Planning Board on Monday night.

Costello and Selectman Don Leffort accepted Tito’s resignation, and asked all Planning Board members in attendance to join the selectmen in a vote to fill the vacancy.

Scott Penoyer, who served as an associate member of the Planning Board, stepped forward and offered to be a full member. Penoyer was the only candidate interested in the position.

Penoyer was a long-standing member of the Conservation Commission, and one Planning Board member noted he was “a particularly good candidate for the position.”

The two boards voted unanimously to appoint Penoyer to the vacant post. The Town will officially vote to fill the vacancy during next year’s election.

One-day liquor licenses

The Board of Selectmen then moved to discuss one-day liquor licenses for Young’s Catering out of Seekonk.

The dates requested were May 27, May 29, June 3, June 18, June 25 and June 26.

The board approved the one-day liquor licenses.

Victualler license renewal

The board also received a request from a local favorite eatery looking to renew their victualler license. A victualler license is required when patrons consume food on the premises.

The board granted the victualler license to Uncle Ed’s Front Porch, an ice cream shop located at 116 Winthrop St., which is now open on weekends.

Engineer selection

The board also chose an engineer to repair three roadways damaged in the floods last spring.

Costello said 21 locations were affected by the floods, and the Highway Department will handle 17 locations on their own.

Three of the bridges to be reconstructed by an outside agency include the Elm Street bridge, the Pleasant Street bridge and the Wheeler Street bridge.

The board selected Tibbitts Engineering, out of Taunton, for the job. Their estimate came in at $49,700 for all three bridges.

“We want to get this done before the end of summer,” Costello said. “It’s been a long process, over a year now. Now we need to get this done.”

Rehoboth Public Access Corporation (RePAC)

After all agenda items were addressed, the board opened the meeting up to open forum.

Resident Bonnie Kelley approached the board and gave them a run-down on her recent attempt to watch a televised recording of a past Board of Selectmen meeting.

Kelley said she tuned in for an hour and a half and viewed only the comings, goings and conversations of residents in the crowd. Kelley attributed this viewing experience to the new RePAC practice of recording the crowd while the Board of Selectmen met in executive session.

RePAC first began recording residents in the crowd during an April 15 special regular session meeting.

“RePAC doesn’t listen to my orders to shut down the cameras or the microphone when we’re in executive session,” Costello said. “I’ve asked them on a number of occasions. RePAC is a vendor to the town of Rehoboth, no more, no less.”

Costello compared RePAC to a vendor who empties the garbage cans at public buildings in town. Costello said if the trash disposal vendor was doing something inappropriate, the selectmen would order them to alter their technique. To keep their job, Costello said, the vendor would do as they were instructed.

“I’m going to look into it to see what kind of strength we really have here,” Costello said.